How to Marry Another Billionaire

by Elise Sax

  “Again? I think I’ve sung it a thousand times,” he says.

  “Again!” they shout in unison.

  He starts singing again. “Love Boat,” he croons. “Exciting and new. Come aboard. We’re expecting you.”

  He’s singing the Love Boat theme. I don’t know why, but it tugs at my heart. I peek around the corner and see him on the floor of the living room. He’s arranged the cushions on the floor, and he and the kids are lying down in the middle with blankets on top of them. Ronnie and Keith have their heads resting on Rock’s chest, and they all seem perfectly content. I count the kids. One, two, three, four. They’re all accounted for, and they seem to be in one piece.

  I decide not to disturb them, and I tiptoe back to the bedroom and fill up my glass in the bathroom. Once back in bed, I fall asleep, again.

  I wake up a couple of hours later. The house is quiet, and I’m almost human again. As quietly as I can, I pad into the bathroom and turn on the shower. The hot water feels wonderful on me. I use Rock’s shampoo and soap, but there’s no conditioner to tame my long hair. When I finally get out, I wipe down the mirror and wrap myself in a towel. Finding a comb in one of the drawers, I start to work on the tangles, but it’s slow going. When I’m finally done, I rummage through Rock’s closet and find an old t-shirt and boxers to wear.

  I tip-toe down the hall and stand at the top of the stairs, again. Rock isn’t singing anymore. He’s sitting cross-legged, his legs under the coffee table. The rest of the kids are sitting or standing around the coffee table, too, except for Keith who’s climbing Rock’s back like he never wants to let go of him.

  Rock has covered the table with paper, and he’s drawing pictures with them, all the while telling them stories.

  “And then the evil Cole and the hero Rock stormed the Five and Dime, intent on buying two Snickers bars, but evil Cole dropped his money in the grate under the sidewalk,” he says.

  “Then what happened?” Mick asks, rapt.

  “The hero Rock volunteered to go down the dark and scary and dangerous grate to get the evil Cole’s money.”

  “Is there a monster?” Keith asks.

  “Do you want a monster?” Rock asks.

  “Yes!” Mick yells, gleefully.

  “There was a monster!” Rock announces, making them cheer. “With his amazing physical prowess, and his generous, full heart, the hero Rock pried open the grate and jumped down into the darkness.”

  “Did the monster get him?” Mick asks.

  “No. The hero Rock dispatched the monster with his superhuman strength. But he broke his leg in three places jumping down into the sewer. Who knew the hole was fifteen feet deep?”

  “I didn’t know,” Mick says.

  “Me, neither,” Keith says.

  “Goldfish,” Ronnie says, and Rock spills some goldfish crackers from a bag onto the table for Ronnie to eat.

  “My father got me out of the hole with a rope and a horse,” Rock continues. “That broke my other leg.”

  “Horsey!” Ronnie yells.

  “Yeah, horsey,” Rock says. “You want me to draw you a horsey?”

  Rock draws him a horse.

  “Even with two broken legs, the hero Rock managed to get the evil Cole’s money, and when he was dragged out of the hole, he handed it over,” Rock continues. “Then, the evil Cole got his Snickers bar, and the hero Rock ate hospital food for a week.”

  “I hate evil Cole!” Mick announces.

  Rock high five’s Mick. “That’s my man. You definitely tell him when you see him.” Bianca gives Rock a big kiss on his check, and Rock hugs her back. “Thank you, sweet girl. You made my day. “You guys okay for a minute? I’m going to check on your mother.”

  I skip back to the bedroom without him seeing. When he walks into the bedroom, I pull him toward me and kiss him.

  “You’re feeling better,” he says, smiling. “And you’re wearing my clothes. I like it. Very sexy.”

  “You know who’s sexy? You.”

  “I think I got some of one of the poop diapers on the back of my head. You want to check?”

  “Maybe later.”

  The doorbell rings, and I hear the front door open. “Anyone home?” Rosalind calls from downstairs.

  Rock and I go downstairs to find Rosalind, Lillian, and Bessie in the living room. “Would you mind if we took these precious angels with us?” Lillian asks, staring at me in Rock’s clothes. “That way you two can have some alone time.”

  “No need to come back for them until tomorrow,” Rosalind says and Bessie giggles into her hand.

  “Good idea,” Rock says. “Olivia hasn’t been feeling well.”

  “Is that right?” Lillian asks, looking up at the ceiling. Bessie laughs in her hand, again, and Rosalind is looking smug.

  “Rosalind, may I see you in the kitchen, please?” I ask her.

  In the kitchen, I turn on Rosalind. “What did you do?”

  “It wasn’t my idea. A little too ruthless for my taste.”

  “What wasn’t your idea? What was a little too ruthless for your taste?”

  “Lillian and Bessie poisoned you,” she says, matter-of-factly.

  I take a step back in surprise. “They did what?”

  “Poisoned. Like the Evil Queen in Snow White. It was in the apple cobbler Lillian gave you this morning.”

  “I could have died.”

  Rosalind waves her hand. “Naw. Bessie got the doctor to give her the stuff. Totally harmless.”

  “The doctor was in on it?”

  “The whole town. They say that folks in small towns are nice, but these people will do anything for grandchildren.”

  “I can’t believe I was poisoned.”

  “But it worked, right?” Rosalind asks.

  “He bonded with the kids.”

  “Perfect. We’re almost there. Tell him he’s big and smart, and we’ll have this deal sealed.”

  Chapter 13

  Olivia

  The minute we hear them drive away with the kids, Rock pushes me up against the closed door and pushes his thigh between my legs. My heart beats in my chest like it’s going to explode. Rock has this effect on me. Constant arousal. I can’t get enough of him.

  I’m reasonably certain that I have the same effect on him, because the evidence of his arousal is pushing against my belly. My hand travels down his chest until it reaches his waistband. I unbutton his pants and slowly unzip them, freeing his erection. I wrap my hand around his manhood, while he grinds his leg against me.

  Slowly, I begin to pump his velvety shaft. He moans and takes my mouth in a savage kiss. The tender passion that we shared before has grown to something much more visceral. Something animal.

  He grows harder and longer in my hand, and my arousal is heightened and I can feel the slickness between my legs. In a sweeping motion, Rock turns me around and pulls my pants down to the ground. He grabs my hips, and I put my hands up against the door for support. Holding onto my hips, he adjusts my body, separating my legs with his knee, and lifting me back so that I bend over.

  I’m totally exposed to him, but I don’t feel an ounce of shyness. He brings out the wantonness in me like I’ve never experienced before. With Rock, I’m a real woman, someone in charge of her own sexuality. Not shy about claiming my needs, even when my needs are to pleasure him.

  He caresses my slick heat, finding my most sensitive spot. My breathing becomes ragged and I push back against him, arching my back and sticking my ass in the air, urging him on.

  “Not so fast, beautiful,” he says. His fingers continue to caress me in little circles, driving me half-mad with desire.

  “Please,” I moan, surprising myself. “Please.”

  “No, my love, I’m the one who says please.”

  He enters me from tip to root, filling me and making us one. He thrusts deep and fast, slamming into my body as if he’s marking his territory. My legs shake with desire, and pleasure tightens inside of me.

  “Harde
r!” I urge. I want nothing to be soft and gentle. I need to feel him and know that he’s with me, part of me, never to be separated again. I lean my cheek against the door while he pounds into me. My skin tingles, and I close my eyes as my pleasure mounts, and I lose control.

  Rock is at the same point as I. We break apart together. Shattering into a million pieces. I’ve never experienced this before. I don’t even know what to call it. Making love? Having sex? I don’t think there’s a term for what Rock and I have together.

  He turns me around and wraps his arms around me, pulling me in close for a long, luxurious hug. “You’re going to ruin me, Olivia. I’m wrecked. Torn apart.” He breathes the words into my ear with a whisper, and I shiver.

  “Me too.”

  “I don’t know where I stop and you start. It’s not like I’m disappearing. Instead, I’m expanding, becoming more. Am I making any sense?”

  “A lot of sense,” I say. “I feel the same way.”

  “Our relationship hasn’t exactly been traditional, and we haven’t known each other very long, but please believe me that I love you, Olivia. I can’t live without you. It would break my heart to lose you.”

  It’s my turn to say that I love him, but for some reason I can’t utter the words. I love you. I love you. I’ve said it a million times to my children. Why is it so hard to say it to the man that I love? And I do love him. I love him in a deep, lasting, soulmate, true love kind of way. It’s not a childish love, but it’s a womanly, mature love. A love that would last forever. A lifetime. And he has given me his heart. He’s told me that he loves me. But for some reason, the words don’t come out of my mouth.

  If I would investigate it further, I’m sure I would come to the conclusion that the reason I can’t say it is because there’s a man somewhere out there who’s run away from me even though he’s my husband and the father my children. I said “I love you” to him, and he said “I love you to me,” but was it ever real? Were we ever really in love? And if we were, did the love just die? Did it spoil, like milk left out too long?

  I don’t know. I don’t know about love, I realize. I don’t know how it works. I don’t understand the rules. But I do know one thing. I love Rock with all of my heart. With all of my soul. With all of my being. And if this love dies or withers on the vine, I won’t survive it.

  So, I don’t say anything. I don’t tell the truth about my feelings. And Rock doesn’t ask me to. He slips his arm around my waist and walks with me upstairs.

  “It’s time to make love to you in my bed, the bed I made,” he says.

  “I love your bed. And your house.”

  “The kids like it, too. I was thinking that I could redesign the other two bedrooms and make them four. Although Mick and Keith are attached at the hip. Maybe they would be happier sharing a room.”

  “Rock, what’re you saying?”

  “You know damned well what I’m saying. I’m just not saying it officially yet because I have to convince my mother to give me my grandmother’s ring from the vault. You don’t strike me as a girl who goes for any old ring from a store. You want tradition and class.”

  Tears sting my eyes, and my throat is thick with emotion. “I do?”

  Rock nods. “Yes. You do.”

  “But you don’t do commitment, remember? You don’t do kids. You just enjoy the moment.”

  We reach the top of the stairs, and he turns to face me. “I’m really enjoying this moment, Olivia. And I realized today that I don’t want the moment to end. I want the moment to last until as long as we both shall live.”

  “Oh,” I breathe. “You do?”

  Rock smiles. “And besides, your kids love me. They can’t get enough of me. At first, they scared the shit out of me, but I really got the hang of it after a while. And then I thought, this is going to be so much fun. I can teach them to ride, teach them how to get into trouble.”

  My tears fall freely, now. “I would love that,” I say. “It’s like a dream. I can’t believe this is happening. Can we live here in Idaho, near your family?”

  “You don’t want to stay in Los Angeles? You’re not going to miss the big city?”

  To answer, I kiss him. He lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around him. Without breaking our kiss, he walks us into his room and deposits me gently onto the bed. He stands over me, appreciating my body. And I appreciate his. I reach up and touch his strong stomach and trail my fingers down to his powerful thigh.

  Rock lays down on top of me, careful to support his weight on his forearms. I snake my arms around his neck and rake my fingers through his thick hair. He’s painfully handsome, terribly sexy. I arch my back, rubbing my body against him, teasing his erection.

  He teases me back, licking and nipping at my nipples until they’re taut peaks. “We’re going to do this every day, right?” he asks me in his Peter Pan way, as if we’re playing a favorite game that he doesn’t want to end.

  “Of course, if you’ll let me be on top once in a while,” I say.

  “I’ll let you right now, if you want,” he says with glee and flips me on top of him so that he’s resting on his back. He waggles his eyebrows. “I think I can get used to this.” I sit up and squirm against him. He cups my breasts in his hands, feeding my desire.

  I slide the head of his shaft into me and sit down, letting him enter me completely. Rock’s arms drop to my hips. He lifts me up, separating us, and then he brings me back down onto his shaft. I’m on top, but he’s moving me. The large muscles of his arms flex and constrict as he moves me. I drop my head back and fondle my own breasts.

  Unable to sit still, my body moves on its own, riding him in a slow, sensual rhythm. I lean forward and rest my hands on his chest. Rock never takes his eyes off me, watching as I use him to pleasure myself. The now familiar swell of arousal builds inside me. The rhythm of our joining speeds up, as it keeps up with what’s going on in my body. As I begin to cross a bridge of ecstasy to my orgasm, Rock flips me over onto my back. He lifts one of my legs so that my calf is resting on his shoulder, and he drives into me fast and furious until once again we break apart together.

  My heartbeat slows, and Rock pulls the covers over me. He kisses me lightly on my lips and gets out of bed.

  “Don’t leave me,” I say.

  “Never, beautiful. It’s a little chilly, and I thought it would be nice to have a fire.”

  He preps the fireplace and starts a large fire. After, he turns the lights off and the room is illuminated only by the firelight. Rock gets back into bed and gathers me to him on our sides.

  “If I didn’t know better, I would say you’re trying to romance me,” I tease.

  “Trying? I thought I was romancing you pretty good. I got the mountain house, the big bed, the roaring fire.”

  “No chocolate. No flowers. No music,” I say, counting on my fingers.

  Rock clutches at his chest. “You wound me, Olivia. But fair enough. I owe you a lot of romancing. Should I take notes? Chocolate, flowers, music. That doesn’t sound too difficult.”

  “Actually, let’s not talk about chocolate. I don’t want to think about food.”

  He traces a finger down the side of my face. “Are you still feeling sick? I’m so sorry. I didn’t even ask you how you were feeling before I jumped your bones.”

  “Jumping my bones definitely speeded up my recovery,” I tell him with a smile. “Doctors should probably prescribe that to their patients. It could save lives.”

  “I’m not sure I could do that to the whole town,” he says with a smile. “Especially in flu season. I mean, it’s a small town, but we’re talking a good two thousand people I’d have to fuck up against their front doors. I wouldn’t have time to do other things. I would never be able to get to the gym, for instance. Although, banging all those folks would burn up a lot of calories, I guess. But I wouldn’t have time for other things. Hobbies. Work. You know.”

  “Fine. I guess doctors will just have to use drugs instead.”

 
Rock pulls me closer and drapes his leg over my hip. “But we can implement the cure between us,” he says. “Any time you’re feeling under the weather, I’ll bang the shit out of you against that door.”

  Our lips are nearly touching, and I’m itching to kiss him, again. “Deal. We’ll never be sick for long that way.”

  “I have a feeling that this is going to be great, you and me. Smooth sailing. Nary a hiccough.”

  The next morning, sore and exhausted from a night of lovemaking, Rock and I take a long, hot bath together. Afterward, I fix him a huge breakfast with the supplies that my poisoners left us on the front porch. I eat, too. My appetite is back with a vengeance after my poisoning. I eat two slices of toast, an egg sunny side up, three cups of coffee with milk, and a banana muffin that I’ve made from scratch.

  After telling me he loved me last night, we’ve fallen easily into setting up house, as if we’ve lived together forever. Without asking him, Rock clears the table after we eat and washes the dishes.

  “I’m going to teach Mick how to catch a ball today,” Rock announces as we get ready to leave.

  “He’s four. Don’t expect much.”

  “Maybe he’s got a pitching arm. He’s sort of built like a baseball player, don’t you think?” Rock’s got starry eyes as he fantasizes about Mick’s sports career.

  “Maybe he should go to preschool before he tries out for the Dodgers,” I suggest.

  “Party pooper.”

  We drive back to Rock’s mother’s house. The ranch is a hive of activity. Rock opens his car window and says hello to about five men before he parks in front of the house. It’s a hive of activity in the house, too, with everyone congregated in the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” Rock asks as we walk into the kitchen.

  “Oh my God,” I say, as they turn around and I see a new face at the house. Standing by the stove, facing off with Rosalind, is a tall man.

  “Who’s that?” Rock asks.

  “I’m her husband,” the man says. “Who the hell are you?”